Means for filling buckets, &amp;c., from hoppers.



A. SMITH. MEANS FOR FILLING BU OKETS, &0., FROM HOPPERS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 28, 1909.

Patented Sept. 18, 1910.

8 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

nwsmon ATTOBNEYJ A, SMITH. MEANS TQR FILLING BUGKE'I'S, 6:17., FROM HOPPERS. APILIOATION FILED AIBJIL 1909.

969,988. Patented Sept. 13,1910.

2 BHEIITS-BHEBT Z.

ii/M w A TTORNE VS j UNITED STATES PAT NT OFFICE. J

AUGUs'rus SMITH, OF NORTH PLAINI-IELD, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR 'ro BERGEN Pom'r IRON worms, or NEW Yank, N. Y., A conronatrron or NEW JERSEY.

MEANS FOR FILLING BUCKETS, 800., FROM HOPPERS.

To all whom it may concern. 7

Be it known-that I AUoUs'rUs SMITH, a citizen of the United tates of America, and residing in thecity of North Plainfield, in the county of, Union and State of New Jersey have invented a certain new and Improved Means for. Filling Buckets, &c., from a Hopper, of which the following is a specificat1on.' g

. My invention consists of a.-combination gate and filler, capable of being operated by machinery, which'will at required ntervals load a bucket or skip with a given quantity veniently be done a r. of coal or other granular materials, from a ocket or hopper, without spilling or overowing, and without requiring the attention of an operator. During the operation of filling the ski orbucket, it maybe necessary to cut o the flow of g..anular material from the hopper or pocket, and this may cony a suitable formation of the filler itself, though this is not an essential part of my invention. The. filler can 'be built in different ways, and in the accom-' panying drawings I have shown two constructions.

In the drawings I have shown my invent-ion in connection with a hopper sup osed to be built under a railroad track to filled with coal from drop bottom cars, which hopper is arranged to feed coal onto the automatic filler, and this filler is arranged to dischar e its contents in turn into a bucket whie is afterward hoisted vertically. The type of bucket or method of removing it when loaded has of course nothing to do with the invention of the filler.

Figure l is avertical section showing a filler mounted on a horizontal axis, WlllCll is to be tilted by the weight of the bucket to be filled so as to cause the contents of the filler to slide into the bucket; Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the filler and bucket tilted; Fig. 3 is a side elevation oi. themechanism, as ilnFig. 1; Fig. 4 is a vertical section of a modification showing a filler 'arranged to be revolved around a horizontal axis by some extraneous force, so as to discharge its contents into the bucket or other measure to be loaded, which latter remains at rest during the revolution of the filler.

In-Figs. 1, 2 and 3, A is the track hopper and B, Bare the rails supported on suitable track girders B; The hopper has'an opening C,'-the size of,which can be regu- The cylindrical lated by a slide D. The floor of the hopper Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 13, 1910. I

Application filed April 2 8, 1909. Serial No. 492,687.

is constructed at an angle so that the material dumped into it will ow down by gravity through the opening C ontoa pan or E mounted on a horizontal axis F. This pan has side walls G and a back H, so that when .the granular material has an angleof repose a definite quantity will flow onto the pan through the gate of the ho )per 0, depending on the adjustment of t he sliile'l). A light pendent swln ing door or ballie plate J mounted on a shalt K may be provided at the discharge end of the pan or tiller so as to prevent lumps, which may acquire a velocity in dro the an, from s rooting over the pan before the atter is tilted to its dumping-position.

M is a skip bucket arranged to travel between vertical rails or uides- N, N, when lifted by the pulley bloci P. K N, N are continuations of the rails N, N rigidly attached to a frame forming. part ofthe pan or tiller.

The posltion of the axis F of the tilting is so taken that whether the pan 1S empty or filled it will remain in the osition shown by the full lines. The position of the skip track N, N, is so taken with res ect .to the axis F that the weight of the srip bucket, if allowed to rest on the frame work forming part of the filler, will cause the latter to revolve to the position shown in Fig. 2, even when the pan is loaded. The. position of the skip bucket with res ect to the feed edge Q, of the pan E, when the skip bucket rests, on the pan framework, is so taken that'as the an revolves, all the material on it will side off over the edge Q into the skip bucketM without any s ill. The size of the skip bucket M is so ta on with respect tozthe size of the pan that the charge of the pun, which is regulated to great nicety by the slide gate D, cannot over-fill it. As the pan or filler revolves, the battle J hanging freely on the shaft K swings away from the dumping edge Q, so as not to obstruct the flow, of material into the bucket M. The back H of the an or tiller E has a cylindrical form with t c axis 1 as a center, so that as the filler revolves the back I-I forms an undercut gate stopping the flow of material from the hopper A. backof the tiller may be continued below the floor of the filler as shown at H, so that when tilted to the reping out of the hopper into hopper will still be cut off and not allowed to drop under the filler.

I In the modificationshown in Fig. 4, the axis F of the pan E is placed near the dumping I edge. would be continued to the bottom of the travel of the ski bucket, which latter would remain at rest. uring the tilting of the pan or filler; Some lifting force has to be provided for tiltingthe pan up to discharge its cdhtents and this may conveniently consist;

ofi'the bail R and hoisting rope 'The I oistmg mechanism connected with b can be interlocked with the hoisting mechanism for operating the skip bucket, so that the tilting of' the pan or filler follows consecutively after the arrival of the skip bucket in the position suitable for filling, as shown in the figure. I

filler to its original position precedes the return of the skip bucket for the next load.

The operation of the cylindrical cut-off gate of the filler, the adjustment of the charge in the filler and the operation of the swinging bafiie J are identically the same as in Figs. 1, 2 and 3.. v I

I claim as my invention l. The combination of a hopper to contain granular materials with a tilting pan to receive a definite quantityof'materials from said hopper, the pan having a transverse axis, and a cylindrically'shapcd back, to form a cut off gate fromsaid hopper when the pan is tilted about. said axis, and a pendent swinging battle late to prevent the escape of materials whi e the pan is being loaded, substantially as described.

2. The combination of a hopper to con- In this case the rails N In, this case the return of. the

-work being rigidly attached to the tilting Pilllr whereby when the weight of the re:

. ceptacle to be loaded is applied to the frame work attached-to the pan, said weight will cause the pan to revolve about its axis and discharge its contents into the receptacle to be filled, substantially as described.

3. The combination of a hopper to contain granular materials with a tilting panto receive a definite quantity of materials from the hopper, and having an axis of rotation with a cylindrically shaped back formed from said axis of revolution 'asa center, to

cut. off the flow of material from the hopper during the process of tilting said pan and a pendent swinging baille plate to prevent thej nemature discharge of the materials from the tiller, and a hoisting means for the receptacle to be filled, as above described.

4. The combination of a hopper with outlet gate, a receptacle to be loaded and a tilting pan, and a framework rigidly attached to the pan, which is revolved by virtue of the weight of the receptacle tobeloaded coming to rest on the framework attached to said pan.

In testimony whereof l havesigned my name to this specification, in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses. I V AUGUSTUS. SMITH; \Vitnesses: v I i L. ll. Gno'rn, \Varxrnn Anon. 

